the Daughter
by Warrior Rose
Summary: The daughter of Wolverine... just the first chapter right now, but please tell me what ya'll think!


Snow crunched under foot as a teenage girl walked down the side of the road, her heavy jacket pulled tightly around her. A beatup truck wizzed past, dispearing from sight when it rounded a curve.  
"Idiot," the girl mumbled, her honey-colored eyes following the path the now-unseen vehicle would be taking. "Doesn't he know the roads are covered in ice." She spoke loudly to no one but herself. Shaking her head, the girl trudged on.  
Something in the the ditch beside her caught the girl's eye, and she turned her head. A gasp excaping her. A wolf lay spralled out in the mud and snow, dark maroon splattered over it's thick fur. The dark grey pelt of the animal matching the girl's hood-covered hair.  
In a state of near shock, the girl slid down the icy ditch wall, approaching the wild canine slowly. She knew it was still alive, it's chest was barely heaving in a breathing pattern but it wasn't that which told the girl. It was something else....  
Finally catching her breath, the teenage girl stopped at a short distance. A car had struck and ran over the wolf, that was easy to tell by the way unnatual way the stomach caved in where the ribs should have made the side sleek and straight. It had managed to make it to the ditch, but must have collapsed after that. The girl thought, coming closer when the wild animal made no motion.  
Coming from the back, the girl kneeled down beside the injured animal, her eyes widened. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't leave it lying here, to die a slow and odvessly painful death. And yet...  
Unable to resist, the girl placed her hand on the wolf's side, winding her fingers in the matted fur. A low growl errupted from the creature's throat, followed by a whimper. Closing her eyes tightly, the girl sat motionlessly, feeling her own breath rise and fall with the rapid pants of the wolf's, her heart beat with his... She palms began to itch feircly, her head pounding like a drum.  
After what seemed a lifetime, the girl jerked herself free. Gasping as she released that she had been holding her breath.  
The steel grey wolf rolled to it's feet, it's coat still matted and dirty but the animal was no longer was suddenly healthy and no longer near death. The girl felt her pulse quicken for a moment, as the wolf turned it's head in her direction, golden eyes locking onto her own honey ones and holding. The canine broke the trance, and turned away, climbing from the opposite side of the ditch and loping into the woods beyond the road. Leaving a stunned teenage girl sitting stiffly in the mud.  
  
~~~~~  
  
2 weeks later....  
  
As Tala walked home from school, she felt a slight chill in the air. The hair along the back of her neck brisled in relex to something she couldn't detect. A bird broke the trees along the side of the rode, causing the girl to jump. Sencing that something wasn't right, Tala picked up her pace. Rounding the bend that lead to her house in a brisk walk before breaking into a heavy jog. Flying up the stairs of the porch, she peered behind her for a breif moment before slamming the heavy door.  
With a sigh, the girl shook her head to clear her mind before flinging her backpack on the floor and walking down the hall and into the kitchen. "Mom!" Tala called. "I'm home..." As no one was there, the girl turned and walked into the family room. Finding her mother staring at the wonders of their television.  
"Welcome home, Tala." Fran broke her gaze from the fuzzy set for a moment to scan her daughter's face. "Are you alright?"  
"I don't know." Tala mumbled. "I have this feeling..."  
"Shut up!" The auburn haired women turned her attention back to the tv, pressing a button on the remote. "Everytime you say that you have one of your 'feelings', something bad happens. Do you want to know why?" Tala's mother turned her head to gaze at her child for a moment. "Because you believe something is going to happen, that's why. You hex us all." After a moment, the Fran's face softened and she spoke more calmly. "How was school?"  
"Phh," Tala rolled her eyes. "You ask that question everyday and everyday you get the same responce...."  
"It sucked," the two said in unison.  
Tala walked across the wooden family room floor to flop down on the sofa beside her mother. "Why do you ask?"  
"The same reason you always ask me whats for dinner..." The women's held up her hand to prevent her daughter from talking as 'Breaking News' flashed across the tv. "Isn't that the weirdest thing..." Fran mumbled, watching as that channel's weatherman reported on a snow storm that had appeared out of nowhere.  
Tala shook her head, eyes locked on the tv screen. Once the bulletin was over, she rose to her feet and crossed the room, and climbed the stairs.  
As Tala walked down the upstairs hall, she heard the doorbell ring. The girl approached the stairs carefully, listening to her mother's footsteps across the hardwood floor and the frontdoor swing open. Fran's gasp made Tala almost step down the stairs, but she held herself in check and listened to the mumbled voices, unable to pick them out. With a shrug, the girl turned and walked into her bedroom.  
Some fifteen minutes later, Tala heard her mother call her name and came down the stairs. She rounded the corner, gazing at each of the three people. A grizzly looking mane and a pale-haired black women were on the sofa, with a bald, handicap man beside them. All were sitting across from her mother.  
As if they hadn't noticed her come in, the four adults kept talking.  
"No, I'm Candian. That's where I was when I met Logan. I only moved here to Alaska after I found out I was pregaunt." Fran shook her head, causing her paling blond hair to fall out of place. "I'm sorry that I can't really tell you more; we only met one night..."  
The bald man looked up, his eyes falling on Tala but the expression on his face caught her offgaurd. It was like he had already known she was there, just hadn't aknowledged her before.  
Fran turned in her seat, her eye's locking onto her daughter. "Tala, come here." The girl almost timidly came over. "They run a school for Gifted kids in upstate New York. You've been accepted into the school..." Tala gazed cluelessly down at her mother. "This is Professor Charles Xaiver, the founder of school. Ororo Monroe, a teacher there. And..." Fran broke her daughter's gaze. "Logan..." There was a long pause. "He's your father..."  
Tala's face went blank, and she stood silently for a long moment, before turning and striding out of the room. The den-occupents could hear her heavy footsteps against the floor and finally the backdoor slam shut.  
Fran shook her head slowly, beginning to rise. "She took that better than I thought," the women mumbled.  
Storm rose to her feet. "Let me talk to her Mrs. Bennet. You can finish discussing things with the Professor." Fran nodded and settled back into her seat, as the other briskly left the house.  
  
Storm stepped off of the porchsteps, her eyes following the footsteps left in the snow, the path leading her into the evergreen forest beyond the house. Sitting in the snow at the base of a tree, Tala sat nursing her right hand.  
"Are you all right?" Storm asked as she causiously approached and sat before the teenage girl.  
"I'll be fine," Tala snorted. Looking into the women's face, a look of ironic humor in her eyes and tweaking her mouth in a faint smile. "Never punch a tree,"  
"I don't intend too," Storm replied, her eyes dancing with held back laughter.  
Tala shrugged, shook her hand and settled so that her back pressed againt the trunk of the tree. "Your Orora right?"  
"Call me Storm."  
"Storm," Tala said sarcasticly. "Right. So hey, what are you guys really here for?"  
"Your mother told you, you've been excepted into Xaiver's School..."  
"Look, I'm not as gullible as my mother. No school should want me with my record and my grades."  
"That's why we are here. Your different from everyone else."  
"Gifted, yeah. In what way?"  
Storm stretched out her palm so that it was a foot above the ground, the snow slowly began to rise and swirl, creating a miniature snow storm.  
Tala's eyes widen in alarm. "Your, your a mutant...?"  
"You are one too." Came the responce. "We all are, and that's why we are here."  
"How do you know that I'm..."  
"Two weeks ago, you used your powers..."  
"The wolf..." Tala murmered under her breath, her honey eyes drawing distance.  
Not seeming to notice the girl had spoken, Storm continued. "The Professor was able to follow them here. And we've come to take you to our a school, where we train mutants like yourself how to control your powers."  
"I've never had a problem with them before," Tala brushed her steel grey hair from her face.  
"They're just maturing, child. You don't know when they will reach their peak. And what then? You won't be able to control them, you'll hurt someone... Then you won't have a home, or family... or freinds. It's better to leave now, and learn how to control your powers and come back, if you want to, when your ready."  
Tala looked away, her gaze going out in the woods around her. "And what happens if I go... and don't like it there?" She turned her head back to face Storm.  
"Than you may return home, you don't have to go..."  
Tala sighed and rose to her feet, dusting snow from her pants as Storm did the same. "I guess I have no choice..." She mumbled before the two headed back to the house. 


End file.
